McCain Stream Media
There is another post on TPM titled "The Death Of The Associated Press" by Graduate Student. The AP has been demonstrating anti-Obama bias. As I sit watching Howard Kurtz on CNN's "Reliable Sources" today, I see another flagrant example of media bias. The top stories on the show are as follows:
1) A New Yorker magazine cover with a cartoon showing an Afro-coiffed Michelle carrying an AK47 and Barack in Somali attire
2) Obama's statement about refining the action he would take in Iraq as changing his position.
3 Jesse Jackson' s chocolate nuts statement
3) The Obama children appearing on Access Hollywood
There was only passing mention of Phil Gramm's "mental recession comment" and McCain economic flip -flops. The panel of reporters was Michael Medved (radio talk show host), Clarence Page (Chicago Tribune), and Jessica Yellin (CNN analyst). Kurtz allows a known partisan, Medved, to be paired with two non-partisan reporters.
Medved felt the New Yorker cover was tacky. Page agreed with the New Yorker's editor that the cover was satire. Yellin said the cover was in poor taste and went on to say that the depiction did not originate from the McCain campaign, but had it's base in internet rumors. The reflexive need to provide cover for McCain is always present.
The fact that Obama had to hold two news conferences to state that his position on Iraq hadn't changed meant that Obama had a communication problem. Medved thought that the clarifying statement was obfuscation. Page actually reminded us that Obama has said all along that he was willing to adjust his troop withdrawal plan based on facts on the ground. Page quoted a statement that Obama made in September to support his analysis.
Kurtz seized on the fact that Obama felt that the MSM had misinterpreted his words as attacking the messenger. Yellin agreed with Kurtz and went on to say that Obama has shifted "emphasis" on what he would do in Iraq. The fact that checking staements made in the past is of no importance. A new emphasis is noted.
At the end of the Iraq story, Kurtz did ask if Obama was being held to a different standard. Page laughingly replied that Obama was a "better story". Page felt that McCain was "fighting for attention". Yellin fell back on the MSM meme that Obama will get hit harder on national security issues while McCain will be challenged on the economy. She neglected to piont out that the economic foibles of McCain were not being addressed.
Kurtz wondered if the MSM going too easy on Jesse Jackson. Medved felt Jackson loved the attention.
An interview with Maria Menounos of Access Hollywood followed. Kurtz wondered why Obama let his children come before the cameras. Apparently, the girls are fans of a group called the Jonas Brothers and knew that they had appeared on Menounos' show. They wanted to be a part of the interview. The skeptical Kurtz believed that the girls' appearance was no accident, but part of a campaign plan.
The next set of topics were the affair of Lara Logan, an Iraq war correspondent, the Christie Brinkley divorce and the death of Tony Snow
In the past week the following has occurred in the McCain campaign
1) McCain called Social Security a disgrace
2) Phill Gramm of the foreclosure inducing UBS and McCain's top economic adviser called Americans "whiners" and their economic concerns a "mental recession"
3) McCain refuses to accept as fact Iraqi PM Maliki's request for a time-table for US troop withdrawal
4) McCain releases an economic plan with no details
5) McCain deficit reduction requires troop withdrawals
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/max-bergmann/the-week-that-should-have_b_111983.html
Despite the facts above, Kurtz, the media critic, gives McCain a pass. I do not believe that this is unintentional. The media is biased. Even the critics are biased.
Deborah Howell the media critic for the WaPo gave a pass on a hit piece in the Post on the mortage the Obama's got from Northern Trust. The Obama's invested more with Northern Trust than their mortgage was worth, thus the morgtage rate was normal for someone with Obama's income and credit status. Howell felt that the story was valid since it dealt with the candidates personal finances, but that the negative context of the story was overblown. The negative context was the entire basis for the Wapo loan story.
Obama is facing an openly biased media.
1) A New Yorker magazine cover with a cartoon showing an Afro-coiffed Michelle carrying an AK47 and Barack in Somali attire
2) Obama's statement about refining the action he would take in Iraq as changing his position.
3 Jesse Jackson' s chocolate nuts statement
3) The Obama children appearing on Access Hollywood
There was only passing mention of Phil Gramm's "mental recession comment" and McCain economic flip -flops. The panel of reporters was Michael Medved (radio talk show host), Clarence Page (Chicago Tribune), and Jessica Yellin (CNN analyst). Kurtz allows a known partisan, Medved, to be paired with two non-partisan reporters.
Medved felt the New Yorker cover was tacky. Page agreed with the New Yorker's editor that the cover was satire. Yellin said the cover was in poor taste and went on to say that the depiction did not originate from the McCain campaign, but had it's base in internet rumors. The reflexive need to provide cover for McCain is always present.
The fact that Obama had to hold two news conferences to state that his position on Iraq hadn't changed meant that Obama had a communication problem. Medved thought that the clarifying statement was obfuscation. Page actually reminded us that Obama has said all along that he was willing to adjust his troop withdrawal plan based on facts on the ground. Page quoted a statement that Obama made in September to support his analysis.
Kurtz seized on the fact that Obama felt that the MSM had misinterpreted his words as attacking the messenger. Yellin agreed with Kurtz and went on to say that Obama has shifted "emphasis" on what he would do in Iraq. The fact that checking staements made in the past is of no importance. A new emphasis is noted.
At the end of the Iraq story, Kurtz did ask if Obama was being held to a different standard. Page laughingly replied that Obama was a "better story". Page felt that McCain was "fighting for attention". Yellin fell back on the MSM meme that Obama will get hit harder on national security issues while McCain will be challenged on the economy. She neglected to piont out that the economic foibles of McCain were not being addressed.
Kurtz wondered if the MSM going too easy on Jesse Jackson. Medved felt Jackson loved the attention.
An interview with Maria Menounos of Access Hollywood followed. Kurtz wondered why Obama let his children come before the cameras. Apparently, the girls are fans of a group called the Jonas Brothers and knew that they had appeared on Menounos' show. They wanted to be a part of the interview. The skeptical Kurtz believed that the girls' appearance was no accident, but part of a campaign plan.
The next set of topics were the affair of Lara Logan, an Iraq war correspondent, the Christie Brinkley divorce and the death of Tony Snow
In the past week the following has occurred in the McCain campaign
1) McCain called Social Security a disgrace
2) Phill Gramm of the foreclosure inducing UBS and McCain's top economic adviser called Americans "whiners" and their economic concerns a "mental recession"
3) McCain refuses to accept as fact Iraqi PM Maliki's request for a time-table for US troop withdrawal
4) McCain releases an economic plan with no details
5) McCain deficit reduction requires troop withdrawals
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/max-bergmann/the-week-that-should-have_b_111983.html
Despite the facts above, Kurtz, the media critic, gives McCain a pass. I do not believe that this is unintentional. The media is biased. Even the critics are biased.
Deborah Howell the media critic for the WaPo gave a pass on a hit piece in the Post on the mortage the Obama's got from Northern Trust. The Obama's invested more with Northern Trust than their mortgage was worth, thus the morgtage rate was normal for someone with Obama's income and credit status. Howell felt that the story was valid since it dealt with the candidates personal finances, but that the negative context of the story was overblown. The negative context was the entire basis for the Wapo loan story.
Obama is facing an openly biased media.
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Great title!
July 13, 2008 12:34 PM | Reply | Permalink
You forget that Obama is the Democratic nominee thanks to the mainstream and liberal media.
July 13, 2008 2:25 PM | Reply | Permalink
Yeah the madrassa story, Rev Wright, bittergate, etc were all ready supportive of Obama.
McCain is the MSM's fair-haired boy. Even the late Tim Russert believed that McCain had not received media focus. Russert blamed this on the prolonged Democratic Primary. He felt that the focus on McCain would come after a nominee had been declared
The Primary is over and McCain's glaring gaffes are not covered.
July 13, 2008 3:26 PM | Reply | Permalink
You should put a trademark on that title. :)
July 13, 2008 3:42 PM | Reply | Permalink
I hope you're following the other threads going on right now about setting up an organization to provide a grassroots counterbalance to this open bias. If not, check out all the posts - the most recent is here:
http://tpmcafe.talkingpointsmemo.com/talk/2008/07/mission-statement-tools-to-cou.php
July 13, 2008 4:16 PM | Reply | Permalink
Great. People need to rec. to keep this around.
July 13, 2008 10:27 PM | Reply | Permalink
After all the hand-wringing apologies and "soul-searching" drivel we've heard from the MSM as regards their coverage in the run-up to the Iraq war, it's really disconcerting to see how blatantly they're covering for McCain on all of the major issues. I certainly haven't heard much about him being the anti-choice candidate, and they have yet to bust him on his 'beholden to lobbyists' status though the facts have been on the table for some time now. Their kid-gloves treatment of him on the economy has been all the more disturbing given current conditions, and of course this past week has been nothing short of surreal. A quick glance at this week's "New Yorker" cover should makes us all well aware of exactly where we stand, and news of the creation of a new 527 pushing Hillary's nomination at the Democratic Convention is yet another stark reminder for any that are still (?) in denial.
It occurs to me at this point that anyone that supports Obama really needs to make an effort to talk to the people in our lives that are most vulnerable to the MSM disinfo campaign as regards his candidacy. This means reaching out to those in our circle that don't always agree with us, as opposed to spending all of our time socializing and communicating with those that do. With the GOP's psyops machine kicking into high gear (see again this week's "New Yorker" cover) and all their little mouthpieces "on message" - it is clear that there needs to be a groundswell of activity to counter the outright lies and distortions coming from the media. Their "whisper campaigns" have now become MSM ledes, as McCain's positions on major issues and lack of understanding in areas of critical importance (the economy, technology, the internet, the MIDDLE EAST) are glossed over or not even mentioned.
I believe it's time we start a "shout campaign."
We have seen the results of the last MSM-enabled bamboozle, and it continues to cost many lives and more than $10 billion a month. To let them just get away with it again, when there is so much on the line, is really not an option.
July 14, 2008 12:27 AM | Reply | Permalink
Great post. I agree completely. Now, what are we going to do about it?
July 14, 2008 10:28 AM | Reply | Permalink